Is Your Sense Of Possibility Being Overwhelmed By Fear And Worry?

Do you spend much of your time and energy trying to control your anxious thinking? Are you feeling disconnected from the world around you because you’re so preoccupied with fear and worry? As a result, do you feel that life is passing you by?

Perhaps you often feel physically tense or nauseated or, as if out of nowhere, are hit with huge waves of panic that cause you to become sweaty or short of breath. If this is the case, you likely have trouble relaxing and falling or staying asleep when stressed.

It’s also possible that anxiety has impacted your relationships. Because you’re regularly fretting about the future, you may find it difficult to stay present with others. Or perhaps you struggle with social anxiety or disproportionate fear when it comes to having new experiences.

As a result, you may be inadvertently disconnecting from your values or have trouble clarifying what your values even are because fear and worry have taken up so much of your brain space. And because you’re so frequently engaging in worst-case scenario thinking, it may feel impossible to imagine a sense of freedom or relief from symptoms of anxiety.

If you could just stop living in fear or over-analyzing everything, life would be so much more manageable. With therapy, you can free up the emotional and mental space that anxiety has taken over so that you can feel a sense of renewed hope and optimism.

In A World Full Of Problems, Our Brains Are Working In Overdrive

Our brains are problem-solving machines. And in a world that is constantly generating new problems and dangers, it makes sense that we struggle with moments of fear and worry. Yet if our concerns are regularly left unresolved and unchecked, these temporary fears can quickly escalate into long-term, chronic anxieties.

It can be difficult to escape the cycle of preoccupation and worry, especially given the rise of technology and the fact that we are constantly bombarded with notifications from social media updates, work emails, and breaking news. Not to mention, we are incredibly overscheduled as a society, which leaves us depleted of the emotional energy and clarity needed to effectively solve problems.

Despite its prevalence, though, many of us avoid seeking treatment for anxiety. And because we operate on such an individualistic level as a culture, we often believe that overcoming anxiety is an endeavor we have to take on by ourselves.

The truth is that the harder we work on trying to control our anxiety, the more it overtakes us. Every time we ignore or suppress our fears and worries, they become all the more vocal in trying to get our attention.

However, in anxiety treatment, you can give your fears and worries a chance to be heard, understood, and even accepted.

Anxiety Treatment Gives You A Chance To Listen To Your Fears So You Can Develop a New Relationship With Them

I will hold a safe space for you to explore your worries as you learn to make room for them in a way that will let life feel more manageable in the long term.

Beginning with an initial, 15-minute screening call, I will get a sense of your needs and our compatibility. During this conversation, you can give me a general idea of your presenting anxiety symptoms and goals for treatment, and I can let you know a little more about my approach to therapy.

As we continue working together, I will learn more about your values and how your current behaviors are either acting in service to or to the detriment of those values. This will be an opportunity for you to truly understand if your fearful thinking is motivating you in the right ways and how to readjust your mindset if not.

Once we have established your values, we can begin the process of charting your path to acceptance and self-compassion. Throughout this process, I will urge you to be mindful of your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations so that you can become more emotionally aware and present.

Using elements of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), I can help you make room for anxiety in a way that allows you to slowly let go of your struggles with it. Because this technique is grounded in an acceptance that you can’t always control your feelings-rather than judgment or surface-level behavioral changes-you can begin to approach your fears with a sense of curiosity and openness instead of avoidance.

In addition to mindfulness, ACT, and elements of behavioral therapies, my training in Marriage and Family Therapy has allowed me to understand how familial relationships can exacerbate anxiety. And by treating each family as its own unique system, I am able to effectively grasp the origins of various anxieties and how they work in conjunction with one another within the family unit.

Anxiety has kept you from paying attention to what is important to you, but it’s possible to make peace with your fears and worries in a way that allows you to be not only more present but also hopeful about the future ahead.

Though fear and worry are common and sometimes inevitable aspects of life, with anxiety treatment, you can begin the important work of reconnecting with yourself, your values, and the things that matter to you.

Perhaps you’re ready to address your anxiety, but you still have some reservations…

I’m worried that talking about my anxiety in therapy will just make me feel worse.

The (not-so) funny thing about anxiety is that the more you try to avoid it, the more you are “hooked” by it. Honestly, talking about your fears may initially increase anxiety. But as our relationship grows and we talk more and more about your anxiety, you will actually habituate to your discomfort. This will ultimately translate to tolerating discomfort and sitting with your anxiety in an open and nonjudgmental way until it passes.

An expert on mindfulness, Jon Kabat-Zinn, has said, “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn how to surf.” While I can’t guarantee that distressing emotions and feelings won’t come up in therapy, I can give you a lifetime toolkit for managing anxiety in a way that will make it less disruptive in your daily life.

I notice you don’t take insurance…

There are a few reasons why I don’t take insurance, but the main reason is that insurance can compromise confidentiality and the therapeutic process. Insurance companies require diagnoses and notes, and more often than not, they expect clinicians to adhere to a blanket treatment plan. I have years and years of clinical experience and am committed to providing an effective, individualized treatment approach to anxiety, as opposed to a plan that is driven by an insurance formula.

How long does anxiety treatment take?

Because I provide client-centered, customized treatment plans, there is no one timeline for overcoming anxiety. Many factors will dictate the time spent in therapy, including the length and severity of symptoms. Though it may seem overwhelming to add therapy to your jam-packed life, with the help of treatment, you’re likely to free up precious mental and emotional space that will help to make the impact of anxiety less severe and unbearable.

You Can Learn To Clarify Your Values To Focus On What’s Important

If constant fear and worry are taking you away from the aspects of life that matter to you most, treatment can help you reduce your symptoms and manage your anxiety. To schedule a free, 15-minute consultation or to learn more about my services, please contact me or call (713) 844-8492.